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MALVERN, PA. - JSP International, a polypropylene compounder and foam maker, is opening a production site in Tullahoma, Tenn., its sixth plant in North America.

The site will be the second in Tullahoma for Malvern-based JSP. The firm recently bought a 282,000-square-foot building in Tullahoma for an undisclosed price, according to Executive Vice President Rich Alloway.

JSP plans to occupy the building in early January and be producing expanded PP beads, sheet and plank there by late March. The new site is expected to create 40 jobs.

Although sales have been flat in 2004, Alloway said the new location will allow JSP to grow in new applications such as auto seating, head-impact and side-impact parts and athletic equipment.

JSP will continue to operate its current Tullahoma site, which is about two miles away from the new location. The original site is a PP bead-making operation that covers 30,000 square feet and employs 12.

JSP's other North American plants are in Butler, Pa.; San Bernardino, Calif.; Detroit; and Toluca, Mexico.

Crane to shut Ohio profile extrusion site

COLUMBUS, OHIO - Crane Plastics Manufacturing Ltd. will mothball its profile extrusion plant in Circleville, Ohio, which is about 30 miles from its headquarters plant in Columbus.

Officials said 68 Circleville employees will be offered jobs in Columbus, where Crane will move the Circleville operations.

``That plant is not being put up for sale,'' said President Herb Hutchison, in a Nov. 30 telephone interview. ``We're moving to Columbus, but we're going to continue to maintain that site. We hope to return at some form in the future.''

Crane Plastics Manufacturing opened the Circleville plant in 2000. The 62,000-square-foot site has 10 extrusion lines.

Hutchison said the operation felt the impact of raw material price hikes and the general sluggishness of the economy. Through 2005, the company expects to see similar increases in raw material.

Crane Plastics Manufacturing has one other plant, in Jacksboro, Tenn. The company operates as the custom profile unit of Columbus-based Crane Plastics Co.

IQMS operates out of a leased, 9,000-square-foot site located nearby, where it employs 60. The firm has been in that space for roughly six years but business expansion drove the decision to build, said Executive Vice President Terry Kline.

Groundbreaking was scheduled Dec. 10. The new building, which is expandable, will have offices and facilities for corporate management, training, technical support and some product development.

In China, IQMS currently is installing systems in a Shanghai plant for Tessy Plastics Corp. of Elbridge, N.Y., and in Suzhou for the plastics technology division of Biel, Switzerland-based Mikron Holding AG. Both systems should be operational in early 2005, Cline said.

Woodbridge closes foam seating plant

MISSISSAUGA, ONTARIO - Woodbridge Group, a major producer of automotive foam seats, is closing a plant near Ann Arbor, Mich.

The Northfield Township facility had just eight people working there the week of Nov. 29, for cleanup and final product shipments, according to Brenda Spencer, the plant's United Auto Workers Union representative. The plant had employed about 170, but Woodbridge has been paring down the workforce for the Dec. 6 closure.

Spencer, a UAW Local 174 member, said Woodbridge is moving foam seat production to a nonunion plant in Addison, Ill., and to other union facilities within the company. She claims the Mississauga-based company is resisting its obligations to former workers at the Northfield Township plant for health-care and pension benefits. The firm's obligations are spelled out in a three-year agreement ratified June 1 by Local 174 members, Spencer said in a telephone interview.

Woodbridge officials did not return telephone calls seeking comment. According to local news reports, Woodbridge is closing the operation because of a drop in demand for foam seating in the Detroit area.

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